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helping kids read

I have been asked to give a number of talks to school children ranging in ages 8-12. Of course what I will say to the younger groups, will be a little different to what I will say to the older kids. However one thing is clear in my mind, and this is the importance of conveying the power of words to these young minds.

Unfortunately technology has taken over in so many instances, and the power of communication is being lost to a silent generation, who plough their entire focus into "getting to the next level" in a game, or living in a "virtual world", so much that the real world seems disconnected from them, and this is very worrying.

I hope to be able to help them connect words again, and see how powerful they can be in expressing themselves, conjuring up wonderful things in their imagination and helping them express themselves in a positive and constructive way.

Through writing and through imagination, you get to make up your own stories, and the great part, is if you don't like something you can change it. How cool is that?

Writing allows you to be who ever you want to be, and your words can take you where ever you want to go. If you can see it in your mind, you can write it.

If you can't see it, then your mind is too busy, and you need to do something else or preferably nothing else, and just give yourself some quiet time, and just be an observer in the world around you. You never know where your next thought will take you.

Sometimes stories form from even the most simplest or mundane thing. It may be a question someone asked, something you saw or heard, a taste a smell, a feeling. Anything you observe or experience can trigger a thought, and a collection of thoughts can lead to a story forming in your mind first. When you write it down or tell it, it becomes a story!

All you really need is to use your senses and just even as a passive observer, relax and see where it takes you.

Sometimes thoughts will lead nowhere, but other times they will. Jot down ideas as they come to you. Often my best thoughts have come, when I wasn't thinking about anything in particular. Mostly I have gotten them, while doing something mildly physical, like vacuuming, where I was not really concentrating on anything, but just allowing my thoughts to drift! I then stop and write down a thought and then I think of that thought and see if something else emerges and write that down. If nothing else comes along, I at least have a starting point for a story or potential story and a clean vacuumed space to show for it!

I really believe we all have a wonderful story inside us just waiting to be told. What is your story?